The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [189]
2. INTERMITTENT FASTING (IF) AND PROTEIN CYCLING (COST: FREE)
What if poor, hungry Canto only needed to fast on occasion to extend his life?
Constant caloric deprivation isn’t without risks, after all. The decline in sex hormone production alone can cause amenorrhea (cessation of menstruation) and bone thinning, among other problems.
It turns out that you can mimic, even exceed, the supposed life- extending effects of caloric restriction with intermittent fasting (IF). This can be true even if you consume twice as many calories as normal during your “on” times, resulting in no total decrease in weekly calories.
There are several versions of IF and semi-IF protocols popular among experimental subcultures:
Fast-5: Fast for 19 hours beginning at bedtime, followed by five hours of eating as much as necessary to satisfy hunger. This is popular for moderate weight loss, which typically appears starting in the third week and averages one pound of loss per week thereafter.3
Some research suggests IF confers the same life-extension benefits as caloric restriction only when calories are consumed during daylight hours. This would, if accurate, make the Fast-5 better for fat loss than longevity.
ADCR: Alternate Day Caloric Restriction (ADCR) requires that calories be cut 50–80% every other day. It has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, autoimmune disease, and even asthma after just two weeks.
Protein cycling: Dr. Ron Mignery, author of the Protein-Cycling Diet, suggests that even a single day per week of restricting protein to no more than 5% of maintenance calories can produce effects similar to extended caloric restriction.
If the mechanism of IF or CR is a genetic self-preservation response,4 protein cycling makes sense. There are no essential dietary carbohydrates. Simply reducing calories (or carbs) wouldn’t necessarily qualify as a biological emergency. On the other hand, even brief absences of essential amino acids like lysine might be enough to flip the switch. The “switch” in our context is triggering a process of cellular housekeeping called autophagy, the purpose of which is, in Dr. Mignery’s words, “to clear the cell of degraded and aggregated proteins that are not being handled by the other recycling mechanisms of the cell.” In principle, if you clear the junk out faster than it builds up, you postpone or reverse aging.
I’m currently experimenting with both 18-hour5 and one-day protein cycling, which I believe (and it’s pure conjecture) can also increase subsequent protein synthesis during overfeeding. For muscular growth phases, I have used the 18-hour protein cycling once per week precisely for this reason, usually ending between noon and 2 P.M. on my Saturday cheat day.
Below is a sample menu for one day of less than 5% protein, adapted from Dr. Mignery. It is distinctly non-Slow-Carb. Once you’ve cried a tear of dietary misery, I’ll tell you what I do:
Miscellaneous breakfast—Breakfast can include wheat-based (lysine-deficient) products such as toast, muffins, or bagels, provided that wheat is the only substantial source of protein, and its calories are heavily diluted with calories from non-protein sources (butter, sugar, juice, fruit, etc.).
Toast with mushrooms, onions, and gravy—You can thicken the fat or drippings from meat with starch to make a gravy and drizzle it over the toast, mushrooms, and onions.
Spinach with vinegar—Microwaved frozen spinach (<2 cups) can be flavored with any kind of vinegar for a near-protein-free dish with the warmth and chew of meat.
Meat substitutes—A microwaved slice of eggplant can fill a sandwich and give something of the shape and texture of a lunch meat. Black olives can also provide something of the texture of meat without the protein.
Bean substitutes—Beans and peas are fairly high in protein and cannot be eaten in the restriction phase of protein cycling. But you can substitute spheres of cassava starch called tapioca pearls. They are a staple of tropical cuisine and are available in a wide range of sizes and colors. You may be familiar with them if